Legislators Near Showdown On Padding Their Paydays

SPRINGFIELD — For the second time in as many years, state lawmakers are poised for a showdown on the politically ticklish issue of whether to give themselves and other officials a pay raise.

Rep. Judy Koehler (R., Henry), the legislature`s most vocal opponent of past pay raises, said in an interview that she intends to push next month for a House vote to reject salary increases recommended last week by the state`s Compensation Review Board.

The cost-of-living pay increase recommended by the board automatically takes effect unless it is rejected or reduced by both chambers of the General Assembly. The board`s action would raise the salaries of about 500 state officials by 4.5 percent on July 1 and 5 percent more on July 1, 1987.

Raises for those holding elected positions cannot go into effect until after the Nov. 4 election.

Last year, the legislature let stand a pay raise totaling $8 million a year for more than 1,000 state officials.

Koehler`s demand for a roll-call vote could provide a replay of last year`s rancorous pay raise debate. Considering that it`s an election year, the issue will be even more touchy than in 1985.

Koehler, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in the November election, said she is not necessarily opposed to the amount of the recommended pay raises.

But she said the salary increases should be rejected because the Compensation Review Board system circumvents the legislative process. The pay board was created by the legislature in 1984 to set salaries for state officials, and it is patterned after one that sets salaries for Congress.

``I disapprove of the Compensation Review Board and the manner in which this shields individual legislators from having to take a vote,`` said Koehler, who has returned $48,000 in pay raises since she was elected in 1980. ``I think it is important to have a vote.

Rep. Carl Hawkinson (R., Galesburg) said he is opposed to the pay raises because they come while unemployment remains high and after last year`s pay boost. He also said the 9.5 percent, two-phase increase is higher than the increases in the cost of living.

``I think it`s too high and inappropriate when we got a raise a year ago,`` said Hawkinson, who is running for the state Senate this fall.

The unemployment rate is nearly 17 percent in Hawkinson`s hometown of Galesburg.

The risk of supporting a pay raise in an election year, however, has not deterred three of the legislature`s top leaders from endorsing the salary increases.

House Speaker Michael Madigan (D., Chicago), House Minority Leader Lee Daniels (R., Elmhurst) and Senate President Philip Rock (D., Oak Park) all support the pay increases, according to their aides. Senate Minority Leader James ``Pate`` Philip (R., Wood Dale) has not taken a public position on the issue.

Those four legislative leaders appointed the 12 members of the Compensation Review Board.

Steve Brown, a Madigan spokesman, said the speaker ``believes the recommendations are reasonable and consistent with pay raises granted to other state employees.

One top Democratic aide, who requested anonymity, said he did not expect a ``frantic`` floor debate next month because the vote is coming well before the election, and the pay raises are smaller than the ones ratified a year ago.

The proposed increases, coupled with ones passed last year, would raise the governor`s salary to $93,266 by July 1, 1987. The governor now gets $58,000 annually.

By July 1, 1987, each member of the legislature would receive an annual salary of $35,661, compared with their present salaries of $32,500.